Composite repairs require complex and precise repair patches to yield effective strength and durability. The removal of damage and subsequent scarfing can make effective composite repair challenging. In this regard, the individual repair ply shapes required for effective repair can be hard to define and are irregular in shape. Furthermore, contoured surfaces typical of aircraft components (or other composite structures) result in more complexity in the definition of the individual plies and make ply consolidation, a critical step in the manufacturing of an effective repair, difficult. Today's best practices typically use paper or some transparent medium—such as Mylar—as a flat pattern to outline the shape of the repair plies. This process involves tracing and mapping the scarfed parent plies and multiple iterations of fitting and cutting until a best fit is obtained. The paper patterns are then transferred to the raw repair material where orientation and cutting follows. This process is time consuming, operator dependent, and only approximates the outline at best.
Accordingly, it may be desirable to define a process or system by which to cut and consolidate repair patches with greater precision and speed than the current handmade processes. This will result in more robust and cost effective repairs.